It's a snip

Spend nearly 100 quid on a haircut - now why would you do that? Lured by the promise of film-star locks, James Brown tries out a posh barber

It’s fair to say I’m nervous. I am in a posh hairdresser’s in Mayfair, about to spend £90 on a haircut. That’s a lot of money. You can watch BBC television for nearly a year for that price. You can pay two parking tickets for that price. Normally, I get my hair cut in a room above a pub — I know, you can tell. And now I’m surrounded by toy poodles in coats and men with plummy accents and cherry-coloured brogues, listening to the deafening roar of women’s chatter and hairdryers, a veritable symphony of hot air. Everyone’s wearing blue-and-white striped gowns. I’m in a beauty asylum.

How did I get here? Well, one day, Martin walks into the office looking like a film star. “Blimey,” I say, “that’s a good haircut.”

“Yes, I got it off this guy who comes in from New York,” he says. Normally, Martin looks